The First Day of the Last Summer
by Luna C. Starque
Summary: First off- ONESHOT. Kyle asks a lot of questions and Stan plays with a hat. Hurray for Style!


_A/N: My very first Style fic! Woot! I wrote this a couple weeks ago and for some reason forgot about it. Which is stupid, because it's one of my favorites. I'm a little annoyed at how girly Kyle sounds at times, though. Enough of that- I'll let you get on with your reading, and hopefully, reviewing. Have fun!_

_Luna _

The pair of eighteen- and seventeen-year-olds sat at the edge of Stark's Pond. They had just graduated from South Park High, and next year they would be going off to their respective colleges. This summer would be their last together.

The heat was just beginning to set in. The snow was sludge on the ground, and the sun was blazing. It was not the prettiest day for a high school graduation ceremony. Then again, such events don't really deserve good weather, Kenny had pointed out dryly earlier that day. Kyle watched Stan twirling his graduation cap on his finger. Stan's face was screwed up in concentration, and it would have been comical if Kyle had actually been thinking about it.

"Hey, Stan?" The black-haired boy looked up from his sport, and the hat spiraled off into the mud.

"Damn! Yeah, Kyle?" He turned his attention to his friend.

"Have you ever been sitting next to someone and...well, had the urge to kiss them?"

Stan had retrieved his hat and was set on getting it to spin again. "Yeah, every time I'm with Wendy. I look at her and at first I really want to kiss her and then... I get queasy." He laughed sheepishly, and, so as not to allow Kyle to see the blush spreading on his cheeks, turned his attention once again to the hat.

"Oh." Kyle, too, turned away from his friend, instead focusing on his fingernails and attempting to dig nonexistent dirt out of them. "Stan?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we'll ever see each other again after this summer?"

"Sure. We'll come back here every year."

"Do you really mean that?"

Stan stopped twirling the hat. After a long silence, he sighed. "I don't know. I don't know what will happen during college. I do know that I want to come back. It'll suck not hanging out with you all the time, dude."

Kyle smiled sadly. "I'll miss you."

Stan looked into the redhead's face with surprise. "I'll miss you too," he said. Their gazes locked for a couple more seconds before they both looked away in embarrassment. "Is it me, or was that just a little gay?" Stan joked half-heartedly.

Kyle chuckled humorlessly. "Yeah." Another long silence. Stan resumed his hat-twirling. After a while, Kyle broke the silence with a sigh.

Stan looked up. "What?" Kyle opened his mouth as if to speak, and then closed it again. He looked sad.

"Nothing," the Jew said. "It's just... nothing.'

Stan shrugged and started twirling the hat again. It flew off his finger for the second time and once again landed in the mud. Stan swore, got up off the bench as if to retrieve the hat, and then decided against it and sat back down. "Screw it," he said, and instead found a stick and set himself to carving his name in the wooden bench.

Next to him, Kyle appeared to be having an intense inner battle. Finally, he whirled around, saying half to himself, half to his friend, "No, I have to tell you. It's now or never."

This caught Stan's attention, and he let go of the stick. Kyle had something important to tell him. "What is it?"

His redheaded friend took a deep breath. "You remember what you said about what happened when you looked at Wendy?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the truth is, I've been feeling a little queasy, too."

This came as a surprise to Stan. In all their years, the only crush he'd ever known Kyle to have was on a girl named Rebecca in third grade. He'd had few girlfriends after that, and even then, it was the girls who'd asked him out, and he'd been too much of a pushover to say no. "Really?" he asked Kyle. "Who?"

Kyle looked into his eyes. In them, Stan saw hope, fear, and most of all, a plea for him to understand. Kyle was silently begging Stan not to make him say it out loud. And then Stan understood.

"Wow. How long?"

"Since seventh grade."

"Holy shit, dude. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was afraid to. I didn't want to weird you out, you know? I mean, you've got Wendy. It's better this way, because now you can be away from me and it won't be awkward." Kyle seemed almost overwhelmed with sadness.

Stan looked long and hard at the redhead. "You know, I'm not Cartman." Kyle looked confused. "I mean, it's not like I'd laugh at you and tell the whole world." He huffed in frustration. "What I mean is... maybe I get a little queasy when I look at you, too."

Stan's blue eyes met Kyle's green ones. "Do you really mean that?" Kyle asked again.

This time, there was no hesitation. "Absolutely."

Their lips met, and all of a sudden the world was spinning. Kyle's hand was running through his friend's hair, and Stan's arms were draped around the other boy's neck. Stan slid his tongue into Kyle's mouth and it was the best feeling either of them had ever experienced.

Kyle pulled away slowly, still looking into Stan's eyes. "What?" asked Stan breathlessly.

"I just wanted you to know, if we keep this up there's a good chance I'll fall in love with you."

In response, Stan pulled him back into the kiss.

The graduation hat lay forgotten in the bank of the pond.


End file.
